Climbing Prices are Raising the Chocolate Bar

WASHINGTON — For nearly two years, cocoa prices have been on the rise. Finally, that’s affecting the price you pay for a bar of chocolate — and there’s reason to believe it’s only the beginning.

American chocolate giant Hershey’s announced last week that it was raising the price of its chocolate to compensate for abnormally high global cocoa prices. “Commodity spot prices for ingredients such as cocoa, dairy and nuts have increased meaningfully since the beginning of the year,” Michele G. Buck, president of the company’s North America operation, said in a statement. The price increase, which amounted to roughly 8 percent, was effectively immediately…(Read More).